Home Destinations Europe Italy Rome Sights Palazzetto Zuccaro

Palazzetto Zuccaro Review

Read our Rome sights reviews. Or post your own.

Palazzetto Zuccaro

Address: Via Gregoriana 30, Spagna, Rome | Map It

Category: Castles/Palaces
Location: Corso and Spagna

Write a review

Fodor's Review:

Shaped to form a monster's face and the most amusing house in all of Italy, this Mannerist-era folly was designed in 1591 by noted painter Federico Zuccaro (1540-1609), whose home this was. Typical of the outré style of the period, the eyes are the house's windows; the entrance portal is through the monster's mouth (this is one of the best photo-ops in Rome—have someone photograph you standing in front of the door with your own mouth gaping wide). Zuccaro—whose frescoes adorn many Roman churches, including Trinità del Monti just up the block—sank all of his money into this bizarre creation, dying in debt before his curious memorial, as it turned out to be, was completed. Today, it is the property of the Biblioteca Hertziana, Rome's prestigous fine-arts library. Leading up to the quaint Piazza Trinità del Monti, Via Gregoriana is a real charmer and has long been one of Rome's most elegant addresses, with residents ranging from French 19th-century painters Ingres and David to famed couturier Valentino.